'Anger Management' Producer Says Lawsuit Has No Merit

April 18, 2012 19:03:10 GMT

Joe Roth who developed the upcoming series with Charlie Sheen said he has reviewed the case with lawyers months ago.

Photo credit: Ivan Nikolov/WENN

A producer is suing after claiming he spent two years developing "Anger Management" only to be kicked out of the project when Charlie Sheen signed on. The series' current producer Joe Roth said that the case "has no merit" and thought that it has been dropped months ago.

Jason Shuman alleged that he and Blue Star Entertainment helped to develop the comedy series "under the false promise of receiving significant backend ownership in, and producer credit and fees on, the show". In his lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday, April 18, Shuman said Roth and his PH Revolution Studios did not "honor its written producer agreement".

Shuman said Roth promised him a significant backend compensation on the next property he helped develop into a series when their joint project "Are We There Yet?" only gave Shuman a "poor" financial income. "Then, in June 2011, without warning or justification, Roth went silent and refused to answer any of Shuman's e-mails or take any of his telephone calls," the complaint read. Shuman later found out that Roth was in negotiations with Sheen to develop and star in the series based on Adam Sandler-starring film of the same name.

Shuman also said Roth owed him $50 million based on "a fully executed legally binding written agreement" for the commissions that he would have received from the series.

Roth responded in a statement to THR, "We haven't received the complaint but we are aware of the issue. We reviewed this issue months ago with our lawyers, our lawyers determined it has no merit, and we thought the issue had been dropped."